As The World Catches Fire

Chapter 14: Hand & Sword

We set out just after dawn. The morning air was still frigid, and so Irina wore my coat. All she'd escaped in was her nightdress and soft slippers, so she had greater need of a coat than I did. Even so, I shivered as I walked. I didn't know if it was from the cold or my body trembling in exhaustion.

As we'd flown over the river in our escape, we decided to follow it back to our camp. My biggest problem was making it up the waterfall. There was a climbable slope beside it, but one needed the strength to do so. My heart fluttered like a bird's wings, my body felt heavy as lead. The blood-loss had claimed all of my energy. I was already breathing hard from the walk. Short of being carried, I wasn't making it even a tenth of the way up the slope.

The bond wavered, and I felt a trickle of Andiya's magic flow into me. When I turned towards her with a wordless question, she sent, "Don't slow us down."

With Andiya's magic, my strength returned. I used tree trunks to support myself and heaved my way up the slope. At the top, Andiya patted me on the shoulder mockingly as I panted.

"Don't give me reason to take it away," she shot in an echo of my words from last night.

It was easier to find the camp than we thought it would be. A trail of smoke curled up above the treeline leading us right to it. The Crows had picked everything clean, leaving only husks and ash. All our food, our tools, our maps and our clothing were gone. What remained was singed, unusable. We combed through for anything that might help. Andiya managed to find a pair of too-big boots for Irina buried under a collapsed tent, and I found a pair of leather gloves. Irina uncovered a metal canteen, and we quickly downed the water that remained. With soot-blackened fingers and heavy souls, we sat down to rest.

Irina detailed what she remembered from Seylas's route. There was a town called Zhyla we'd been meant to pass and re-supply at, just north against the main branch of the river. With any luck, we could follow the planned route and regroup with any of our party who might have done the same. Even if we didn't have any money, there might be those in the town willing to help us. Not a guaranteed success, but the best chance we had.

A strange pattern on a nearby tree caught my eye. It was a handprint burned into the bark then slashed through the centre with a rough cut.

"Yulia," I gasped, and sprinted over to it. I touched the bark. Cold. "She left this for me. It's Artem's hand and her sword. It's a signal we came up with years ago in case we were ever separated. Yulia left this to tell me she's alive."

"A note and location would have been better," said Andiya.

"Yulia and I are soldiers. We'd never leave anything that could be understood by a potential threat. But now we know that at least one person on our side escaped the attack. It's even more likely now that Shokarov's group is unharmed somewhere out there."

"Shokarov's team was following Seylas's original route," said Irina. "They may have already reached Zhyla."

"Then we're wasting time." I nodded towards the river. "Daylight won't last forever."

That tiny sign had slapped me awake. Yulia. I could find her, if we moved fast enough. I wouldn't lose my best friend to this madness.

We made decent time along the river. Every so often, Andiya's magic trickled into me. I couldn't believe how normal I already felt. Healing so fast felt almost perverse. Even my forearm had the dark scabs of a week old wound, and not the dampness of an open sore. I peeked at Andiya's wounds, and hers had barely closed. She was splitting her magic between us, and I was getting the lion's share.